The pickup is a victory for the show and its fans, as a renewal wasn’t guaranteed. At a SXSW panel this spring, star Jake Johnson hinted that he thought the show wasn’t likely to return. “We shot a finale where, if this was the end, the core fan base would be OK,” he said.

Still, a cancellation would have been an unceremonious way to end a show that had meant a great deal to Fox. “New Girl” was an immediate hit when it launched in fall 2011, and although it now averages just a 1.5 rating in the demo, that still makes it Fox’s highest-rated live action comedy (tied with “The Mick,” which has been renewed).

The show, which has produced between 22 and 25 episodes each season, will end its run with a “shorter” episodic order, sources said.

The sticking point with shows heading into their seventh season is increased costs. And indeed, while Zooey Deschanel was already an indie film star heading into “New Girl,” the show has also helped make stars out of the rest of its cast: Johnson, Max Greenfield, Lamorne Morris, and Hannah Simone.

“New Girl”

Jennifer Clasen/Fox

It helps, of course, that “New Girl” is produced by Fox’s sister studio, 20th Century Fox Television, and that the show has been a profitable franchise for the company. Executive producers Elizabeth Meriwether, Brett Baer, Dave Finkel, Jake Kasdan, Peter Chernin, Katherine Pope, and Erin O’Malley remain.

Fox didn’t share at the moment any hints at where Season 7 might end up. 138 episodes of “New Girl” have already been produced; in the Season 6 finale, Nick and Jess (spoiler alert) kiss – rekindling their relationship, while Cece and Schmidt ponder starting a family.